Church Farm School celebrates solar sustainability

WEST WHITELAND — Gathered in center field on the baseball diamond at Church Farm School, students, staff and community leaders celebrated the school’s recently installed five-acre solar array Friday afternoon.

“This is not just a source of clean and green energy but a powerful symbol of the kind of partnerships that come together and make such good things possible,” said the Rev. Edmund K. Sherrill, head of school.

According to Sherrill, the 1.1 megawatt solar installation “ushers in a new era of harnessing nature’s abundance at the school and returns (Church Farm School) to a leadership role in offering environmentally responsible and sustainable programs.”

To dedicate the array, Sherrill was joined Friday by Carol Aichele, secretary of the commonwealth; state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19th of West Whiteland; state Rep Duane Milne, R-167th of Willistown; and Keith Choper, chairman of the West Whiteland Board of Supervisors.

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“Taking real and meaningful action that commits us to clean, renewable energy sources like the sun sends a strong message to our students and local community that (Church Farm School) remains serious about environmental sustainability and energy conservation,” Sherrill said. “Our students have a real life laboratory to explore and learn more about their energy future. That we reduce our energy costs along the way is an added bonus since it will redirect dollars spent on energy to our school’s mission that provides such a great education at little to no cost.”

The school is an episcopal boarding and day college preparatory school that currently enrolls 193 boys from grades seven to 12 from different states and countries. The school is on 150 acres that until the 1990s was a 1,600-acre farm that helped to support the school with student labor. The school is not tuition-based; instead, students pay what their families can afford.

The school’s mission is to “prepare a diverse group of boys with academic ability and good character to lead productive and fulfilling lives by making a college preparatory education financially accessible.”

Choper said the township has been recognized throughout the years as being on the cutting edge of creating sustainability and the school is a good example.

“This is more than just solar energy and providing for the school, we are also avoiding the use of oil and gas,” Choper said. “Church Farm School has been an excellent partner with the township in our drive to increase environmental awareness among our residents, and this solar array is just another example of the school’s leadership in the environment and sustainability.”

Neil Fanelli, school director of finance and operations and leader of the solar project, explained power generated from the array reduces reliance costly electricity by 75 percent annually.

“During the 20 year life of the project, the Church Farm School expects to reduce its energy costs while achieving significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” Fanelli said.

Sherrill said the school’s history of environmental sustainability and connection to land is a strategic imperative as well as one of five goals adopted by the school’s board of directors in its most recent strategic plan. According to Sherrill the initiatives have engaged students, faculty and the community in conservation within a program that includes hydroponics, bio-fuel production and similar projects.

“Leadership, responsibility and service to others have always been the real renewable energy here at the school now so will solar energy,” Aichele said.

Dinniman said Friday’s event reminded him of the day he signed the agreement for the school during his time as county commissioner, noting how much of the land has remained the same.

“But at that time none of us dreamed there would be a solar array here because back then we didn’t quite understand how we could use the wind and the sun in terms of creating power that will help this school and help so many other institutions,” Dinniman said.

Milne said he has enjoyed seeing the project take shape throughout the construction, but was impressed seeing it up close on Friday where he hopes it will serve as a reminder of how multiple stakeholders can work together and advance the common good.

School officials said the Philadelphia Area Independent School Business Officers Association was instrumental in encouraging the school and four other local independent schools to pursue grants awarded from the Pennsylvania Solar Energy Program.

“This is going to be a wonderful example for many, many decades to come about what is possible when good people get together to make the common good possible and show the rest of the community examples of how alternative energy can fit nicely, neatly, cleanly into our landscapes.

Hudson Energy Solar Corp. will own the project. RGS Energy engineered and managed construction of the array, which was built by Keares Electrical Contracting of Exton.